Google intros Desktop Search
p2pnet.net News:- It’s like a photographic memory for your computer.
That’s how Google describes its latest ‘value added’ meant to keep it on the top of the search engine heap.
This time it’s “Google Desktop Search” able to retrieve your email in Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express; files in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, and text; website history in Internet Explorer; and instant message chats in AOL Instant Messenger, all in a single bound.
“In other words, if you’ve seen it on your computer screen, Google Desktop Search can likely help you find it,” says the Google blog.
What happens if you view a web page in Opera, say, or perhaps Mozilla Firefox? Will you still see it on your computer screen?
Well, Desktop Search is, “currently available for Windows XP and Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 and above,” says Google in its press release.
Given that IE’s popularity is plummeting like a stone, will the seach app ever work with Firefox or Opera, say?
“It’s not generally something we discuss,” a Google spokesman told p2pnet.
You give Google entrance permission to your machine. So does it report back home?
“By default, Google Desktop Search collects a limited amount of non-personal information from your computer and sends it to Google,” it says. “This includes summary information, such as the number of searches you do and the time it takes for you to see your results, and application reports we’ll use to make the program better. You can opt out of sending this information during the installation process or from the application preferences at any time.”
And, “When a user chooses to search simultaneously across his or her computer and Google.com, the computer’s content is not made accessible to Google, or to anyone else, without the user’s express permission.”
When you install Google Desktop Search, you get a unique application number. “[...] this number and a message indicating whether the installation succeeded is sent back to Google so that we can make the software work better,” states the company.
“Additionally, when Google Desktop Search automatically checks to see if a new version is available, the current version number and the unique application number are sent to Google. If you choose to send us non-personal information about your use of Google Desktop Search, the unique application number with this non-personal information also helps us understand how you use Google Desktop Search so that we can make it work better. The unique application number is required for Google Desktop Search to work and cannot be disabled.
“Google Desktop Search uses the same cookie as Google.com and other Google services. If you send us non-personal information about your Google Desktop Search use, we may be able to make Google services work better by associating this information with other Google services you use and vice versa. You can opt out of sending such non-personal information to Google during the installation process or from the application preferences at any time.”
Google search can be uninstalled at any time through the Windows “Add or Remove Programs” Control Panel, promises the company.
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See:-
blog – And now, search for your own computer, Google Blog, October 14, 2004
press release – Google Announces Desktop Search, October 14, 2004
plummeting – More ‘critical’ Micosoft flaws, p2pnet, October 13, 2004
October 18th, 2004 at 12:38 pm
Still a little foggy on exactly why you would need this. Outcrook has built in organization features, all the browsers I’ve tried have bookmark capabilities, and with hard drive storage prices dropping like a 10MB full-height MFM drive, it’s pretty easy to slap a drive in an external case and have oodles of near-line storage to save pics, letters, mp3s, etc., whatever you want. (Yes, kids, that 10 Megabytes, that massive amount of storage I had on my first XT compatible machine!)
Whoops, my bad. This is all about catering to the stupid computer user that barely knows how to do more than turn his/her machine on. Let Google do it all for you, it’s better that way.
Sorry Google. Your little toolbar was a neat idea when it first came out, and I used it. Then, all the phone-home issues started to come out into the open, and now this. Go away.